The present invention relates to a fungicide, especially to a fungicidal composition intended for the treatment of cereal seeds.
Methylbenzimidazole-2-ylcarbamate is a known systemic fungicide, which is used for protecting fruits, vegetables, cereals, and decorative plants against pathogenic micro-organisms and has the formula ##STR1##
The area of application of also previously known 1-[.beta.-(allyloxy)-2,4-dichlorophenethyl]imidazole is the same; in the formula below it appears as a nitrate: ##STR2##
2-PYRIDINETHIOL-1-OXY SALTS HAVE ALSO BEEN USED AS FUNGICIDES AND BACTERICIDES, BUT MAINLY IN THE COSMETIC INDUSTRY, E.G., IN SHAMPOOS AGAINST DANDRUFF. The formula below represents its zinc salt, zinc pyrithione ##STR3##
Zinc dimethyldithiocarbamate is used as a fungicide for fruits and vegetables, and its formula is ##STR4##
2,3-dihydro-6-methyl-5-phenylcarbamoyl-1,4-oxatine is a systemic fungicide, which is used for vegetables, cotton, and cereals, and its chemical formula is ##STR5##
1,2-di-(3-methoxycarbonyl-2-thioureido)benzene is also a systemic fungicide, which is used for protecting fruits, vegetables, cereals, and decorative plants against pathogenic micro-organisms and has the formula ##STR6##
The object of the present invention is therefore to provide a suitable fungicide especially for warding off cereal diseases, for treating cereal seeds or the soil, its effect being primarily directed against fungi passing via the seeds and against soil fungi causing plant diseases. Such fungi include Helminthosporium in barley and oats, Fusarium in rye, and Ustilaginales, i.e. loose smut in oats and bund in wheat.
Using mercury-bearing compositions, such as methoxyethyl mercury salts, for treating seed, good results are obtained in warding off the most important fungi injurious to cereals, with the possible exception of Ustilago avena. These fungicides have, however, several significant harmful properties relating to their poisonous nature, their accumulation in organisms, and the environmental circulation of mercury. For this reason attempts have been made to find new, mercury-free agents to replace mercury-bearing fungicides. Agents so far proposed have, however, relatively limited spectra, and in the treatment of cereal seeds, for example, they do not cover plant diseases which can appear in several cereal species simultaneously.